S5(31)E07 – Amy’s Choice – Broadcast Discussion

• 15th May 2010 • Blog Post by Seb Patrick •

Still awake, readers? You’ve been quiet lately, and so have we, but we’re still here, and hopefully you still are as well. Review to follow soon – and hopefully we’ll have a bit more in the way of content for you later in the week as well – but for now, let’s see what we all make of Simon Nye’s debut Doctor Who script, Toby Jones’ guest appearance, and Karen Gillan’s prosthetic belly.

Seb Patrick once met Paul McGann, who immediately pretended to be Mark McGann. He writes for Den of Geek, BBC America, Film4 and the official Red Dwarf website, among others. He owns over thirty toy Daleks and wishes the Dapol factory tour was still open.

20 Responses

Yep, thought it was really good. The Dream Lord ending up being The Doctor was interesting – “There’s only one man who hates me as much as that”. Himself? Ouch. And looks like that shadow is hanging over him if the reflection in the TARDIS console is anything to go by.

And now all the haters can stop moaning about “another companion falling in love with The Doctor”. We all knew it wasn’t the case and now Amy’s had her moment of realisation. Rory’s really grown on me too actually. Very good episode!

Really, really liked it. Although the Dream Lord being the dark side of the Doctor I didn’t like. I really believed he was the Celestial Toymaker, and I still believe he can be, in a way.

It’s interesting how my interest in this episode increased – the initial plot blurb in the RT made me concerned that we were seeing “Turn Left” again, the extended explanation in DWM had me intrigued, and the trailer made me excited. The actual episode was even better than that.

I think the main thing that struck me was that it was the first non-Moffat script this year that actually felt at home *alongside* the Moffat scripts (even though it wasn’t quite as good as any of them). In terms of tone, style, and what it was good at, it felt like part of the same series. Victory and Vampires, while both pretty decent episodes in my view, felt like more run-of-the-mill eps that happened to have the Eleventh Doctor in. But this was undoubtedly an Eleventh Doctor story.

So would I. Best non-moffat story of the season and better than Beast Below. Which puts it 3rd so far. Wonder if any of the upcoming non-moffat stories can top it…wasn’t exactly blown away by the preview for next week. Still think the silurian things look shit.

Another great episode in possibly the strongest series since the show returned. Simon Nye has said he doubts he will write for the show again but on the strength of that episode that would be a great shame, especially as it fitted nicely with the episodes scripted by Moffat

Bloomin’ marvellous – once the ‘choice’ was set up I was hoping it’d be a true shell game. As in, why would any trickster give you a 50/50 chance when they can give you none at all? Which is to say, I was not disappointed. Watching it back it’s good to see the how Doctor lets the dream run on after he’s “solved” it to allow pointy nose and Amy sort their life out.

I had to watch it a second time before I can honestly say I *really* enjoyed it. I was expecting a lot, and, although I thought it was good, there was maybe a fair amount to get your head round first time round.
Loved the double ending, and the fact that the Dream Lord was essentially The Doctor’s self loathing.
(I also loved the use of ‘Enter Sandman’ on the Confidential soundtrack – let’s rawk!)

I’ve grown to like Rory as well, although I must admit, I’m kind of hankering for the ‘The Doctor and Amy’ dynamic of the first few episodes…oh, what to do?

At last. On Saturday I sat down to watch one of the best episodes of Who I’ve seen in ages only to find the internet filled with “hmmm”ing and “haww”ing. It was great and provided a great example of what the show can do when it tones down the “look at me” special effects (see also: “Human Nature”).

If I was looking for negatives I’d say that the Rory-Amy relationship didn’t ring true enough and that there was inconsistency with the old people zapping people one scene and then just surrounding them zombie-like the next. But let’s not do that.

Instead let’s concentrate on the excellent performance by Toby Jones, the clever premise and the ingenious red herring.

Smashing episode. I was worried about whether Who would keep itself afloat during the non-Moffat scripts, but it seems that he has his hands in them in much the same way as RTD did. This was the most like Classic Who yet. I was completely taken in by Amy’s response to Rory’s death “if this is reality I don’t want it” and the way the Doctor just didn’t know what to do at that point to comfort her. Also: Thank you Doctor Who for reminding me that I used to find old people scary.

If I was looking for negatives I’d say that the Rory-Amy relationship didn’t ring true enough

Worked for me. It’s a more complex relationship than many portrayed on TV because the characters knew each other for years as friends before deciding to get married. They already have that thing married couples have of not being able to look each other in the eye sometimes, or squabbling for no clear reason. They love each other, just not in a “woohoo what a blast eh?!” fresh-love way.

OK, this is probably just a production factor rather than a major story arc – but in The Eleventh Hour, after meeting Victor Meldrew’s wife, the Doctor sticks his head out of the window and we hear the birdsong from Amy’s Choice.

Well they’re both in Leadworth aren’t they? In a way it fits with dreams being based upon with what you’ve concious or subconcious picked up in your waiting state. The throaty-eye aliens for example provide more or less the same explanation for as the Fish from Space in Vampires of Venice. Forced from their homeworld yadda, yadda.